BIRMINGHAM City Council has been ordered to prepare a "cheap" option for New Street Station by the government.

BIRMINGHAM City Council has been ordered to prepare a "cheap" option for New Street Station by the government.

The Department for Transport wrote to the council earlier this week insisting it must consider a less expensive alternative to the #550 million "Birmingham Gateway" proposal backed by councillors and Network Rail.

In an interview with the Birmingham Mail, Rail Minister Tom Harris vowed to work with Birmingham City Council to get plans to rebuild New Street station back on track.

He made the pledge as it emerged that Birmingham is still working on cheaper options for rebuilding New Street, as one of a series of tests it must meet to win more funding.

Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced she was authorising a #128 million grant for long-awaited improvements at Birmingham's main rail station.

But were no guarantees that two further grants totalling #223 million would be forthcoming.

Mr Harris said he would work in partnership with the council, but insisted he was still waiting for vital information from the authority.

He said: "I have a vested interest in getting all of this sorted out as quickly as possible.

"I am the rail minister. I really want to see major progress on New Street."

He said the Government was still waiting for some details of the Gateway plan.

"We been given an assurance this information will be with us by the end of August.

"It is fair to say everybody involved would have liked to have seen it earlier.

"But nobody is going to benefit from getting into any kind of a slanging match between us and Birmingham City Council."

The Government was insisting Birmingham considered cheaper options for rebuilding New Street, but this did not mean it was unwilling to fund the ambitious Gateway project, he said.

"It is standard practice to ask for this. We have to go to the Treasury and ask for half a billion pounds.

"There is no way we can do that unless we have asked for assessments of the cheaper options."

He denied reports the Department had criticised Birmingham Council Leader Mike Whitby or senior officials for being hard to get hold of.

Earlier this week, the Government agreed to help pay for measures to improve capacity at the station.

But it said it had not yet decided to support the full Gateway scheme, which includes proposals to regenerate the city centre.

Birmingham City Council New Street lead officer David Pywell, said last night: "We will look at doing some new work.

"We did produce a lower-cost option in the last few months and that was their request. What they are asking for is some more refinement work on that. It is not about drawing up a serious alternative proposal, it is about showing the Gateway scheme is justified.

"There are some elements of the cheaper option which could potentially be incorporated, and we need to look at the feasibility of that.

"There is nothing there that we disagree with. It's just a case of getting it all sorted out."

The letter, dated July 23, was sent by Stuart Baker, the Department's Divisional Manager for National Projects, to David Pywell, the council's project manager for New Street.